User talk:Amc89

About Me

My name is Allison Chaffo, and I am currently a freshman at Duke University in the Pratt School of Engineering, planning to study biomedical engineering. I'm from Murrysville, Pennsylvania, a suburb just outside of Pittsburgh, where I attended school at Franklin Regional School District. Although I just arrived on campus a few weeks ago, I have already joined the Society of Women Engineers, Engineers without Borders, BME Society, and PALS. I also hope to volunteer in the hospital at Duke Medical Center and become involved on campus!

Interests

Dance has always been an important part of my life. I have been tapping and pirouetting since I was four and even danced my way through New York. In 2009, I performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as part of my high school band’s dance team. If I am not dancing, I love to be in the water. My swimming career began at age seven when I joined my first team and continued throughout high school. In the summer, you can find me at my neighborhood pool lifeguarding or teaching swim lessons. I was that kid who would never get out of the water, whether it was a freezing pool or the salty Atlantic Ocean. The beach is probably my favorite place on earth.

Name Pronunciation

Although a lot of people use a nickname for Allison, I don’t. My name sounds like: AL-iss-in CHAFF-o

My first name is pronounced like the children’s story, “Alice in Wonderland,” without the Wonderland of course! Some of my friends call me Chaff, so you can think of that as rhyming with “laugh”, and then add an “o” for my last name. Pretty easy stuff.

Grand Challenges

Engineer better medicines

Drug-Resistant Germs Lure Biotechs to Create New Antibiotics, Rob Waters, Bloomberg Businessweek, created 17 May 2011, accessed 10 September 2011 (Grand Challenge)

MATLAB Demonstration

The “Earth’s Topography” was particularly fascinating to me because it clearly demonstrates how MATLAB can be used for practical purposes, such as exploring the topography of this ancient planet we all live on. While we are all familiar with the shapes of the continents on the dusty globe that sat in the corner of our high school classroom, this demonstration illustrates the Earth’s topography using actual data and depicting those same recognizable shapes. The contour map was especially striking as the data points revealed a simple outline of the continents. Such an outline was not only instantly recognizable as the continents of the world, but it was also remarkable in its simplicity resulting from actual data. It confirmed the accuracy of the maps we are all familiar with in a reassuring and interesting way! The 2-D and 3-D plots further revealed the lay of the land and the depths of the seas. Topography maps I have encountered rarely include the oceans as well, and the combination presents a surprisingly precise, simple, and understandable view of the Earth’s topography. A MATLAB visual such as this one can have a much greater impact on students than any set of data points (or dusty globe) ever could!